1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a data processing apparatus such as an office processor for performing, for example, cutform/document processing in office work.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, as the quality of living and office environments have been improved, offices are on the shift to the following new layout forms. The daily necessaries department of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry defines the new office as "place of living of human", "place of nucleus of computerization", "place of discovery of corporation culture" and "place of front line of internationalization" in a publication entitled "On the Guideline of Office Automation" and issued April 1988. As suggested by this guideline, a subject of modern office planning is to provide the place of functional and comfortable living such that creativity can be brought out and that office work can be performed efficiently. Particularly in forming comfortable offices, effective use of space is needed.
Heretofore, regarding a data processing apparatus/computer system such as an office processor for supporting conventional business document processing, a processing performance/function oriented improvement of office work productivity has been considered for top priority.
In general, a desktop data processing apparatus comprises a body in which a central processing unit, a memory, a magnetic disk unit, etc. are accommodated, as well as a CRT display, and a keyboard. Many of this kind of conventional data processing apparatuses are used basically with its body placed in a horizontal posture. Therefore, a box accommodating the body is in the shape of a rectangular parallelopipedon in which the height is less than the width and depth. In use, the computer body, the CRT display and the keyboard are all placed on a desk; alternatively, the CRT display is placed on the body, and the keyboard is disposed in front of the body.
In the former case, because the body having a large bottom surface area is disposed solely on the desk, the data processing apparatus necessarily occupies such a large area on the disk, thus resulting in a waste of space.
In the latter case, because the CRT display is placed on the body, space can be saved by providing an area corresponding to the bottom area of the CRT display; but, because the area of the bottom of the body occupies on the desk is yet considerably large, it also results in a waste of space. Further, since the CRT display is disposed on the body and hence the display screen is disposed far from the desk surface, the operator must move his or her eyes through a large angle to see the text or material on the desk and the display screen while inputting data such as characters, which can be a serial of eye strain. In addition, if the magnetic disk unit is a floppy disk unit, the loading position of a floppy disk is usually located on a front surface of the body. With this arrangement, loading and unloading of a floppy disk should be performed over the keyboard so that the operator's hand tends to inadvertently contact a key or keys of the keyboard during the loading or unloading, thus causing an inadvertent data entry.
Alternatively, the body may be placed on the desk in a vertical posture. However, the body should be placed on the desk basically in a horizontal posture, and it would be unstable and would tend to fall down if it is placed in a vertical posture.
Further, in this kind of data processing apparatus, a heat-exhaust fan is mounted on the rear surface of the box. Therefore, hot air exhausted from the heat-exhaust fan would be blown directly over a person standing or sitting behind the body, thus giving him or her an unpleasant feeling. The same thing can be said if the body is placed in a vertical posture; since the body should be placed on the desk basically in a horizontal posture, a prospective side surface is devoid of design, spoiling the appearance of an office. In addition, this kind of data processing apparatus is occasionally placed alongside an office file binder. However, the conventional data processing apparatus has not such a shape as to be juxtaposed with another office tool, particularly with a file binder; therefore, placing on the desk the apparatus together with the file binder would appear to be inappropriate for the office environment.
Furthermore, the box of the conventional data processing apparatus is previously provided with a space for accommodating an additional printed circuit board or the like when expansion is needed. This would necessarily increase the box in size by such a space, which is useless to the user who does not intend to make the expansion. After the space has been filled with the additional printed boards or the like, no expansion can be made, thus restricting the expansion feature. In this case, a plurality of identical boxes could be used. However, in the conventional data processing apparatus, placing a plurality of identical bodies on the desk is not considered to be practical, and interconnecting these identical bodies also is not considered to be practical. Consequently, a plurality of bodies would tend to be arranged on the desk in a disorderly fashion, and many cables would be needed to interconnect these bodies, thus requiring a large space on and behind the desk for the cables and hence spoiling the appearance of the office. Alternatively, an expansion unit may be encased in a separate box. In this case, the appearances of the boxes are not systematically designed, thus providing the same aesthetic problem. In addition, interconnecting the bodies by many cables elongates signal transmitting paths. Furthermore, these cables must be bound.
In the conventional data processing apparatus, effective use of office space and keeping an office environment tidy have not been considered. So the conventional data processing apparatus has a problem to be solved for constructing a comfortable new and aesthetically pleasing office environment.